The first Italian restaurant in London is thought to have opened well over 200 years ago, in 1803. It was apparently called Italian Eating House, located just off Leicester Square, and owned by a Venetian called Joseph Moretti. Some might question the name of the place given Italy didn’t become a single state until 1861 (the word “Italian” did exist, but still).
In any case, London has been in a love affair with Italian restaurants for decades. They’re everywhere, populating street corners and feeding neighbourhoods.
It was in the mid-1800s that Italian food started garnering a real foothold in the capital. One restaurant, on Rupert Street, caused a flurry of excitement when it began trading in 1856, while Franco’s in Mayfair, which opened in 1945, endures. It’s the oldest surviving Italian joint in town and still serves well-heeled folk vitello tonnato and octopus carpaccio. The likes of Terroni's deli, E Pellicci (Anglo-Italian) and Bar Italia have all been around longer than King Charles.
Not all Italian restaurants are worth going to. There might be more bad ones than good. With their dry arancini and over-herbed ragu, chains like Prezzo and Ask Italian sully the good name of Europe’s most famous cuisine, while old-time local fixtures can be hit-and-miss (though most have a sort of charm by way of moustached waiters, passable bolognese, Tuscan murals and massive pepper grinders).
It’s the new-age Italian restaurants that concern me here. Those that evoke intense pleasure, the sort only achieved with pasta and Barolo. A lot of them are modern, chic and mannered as chefs seek to pay homage to Italian cooking, to whisk diners back to evening strolls through vineyards. Here, we pick 10.
Bocca di Lupo
It is hard to think of a better Italian restaurant in Zone 1. Maybe there isn’t one. Jacob Kenedy’s homage to regional cooking opened way back in 2008, when balsamic glaze was still thrown about with reckless abandon and hardly anyone had heard of burrata. Today the menu traverses fritti, crudo, pastas and grilled meat and fish, and everything is cooked with skill, understanding and care. Those in need of a tip should simply ask for whatever is newly in season and let Italian ingredients be their guide. There’s a £15 pre-theatre here too, for those in a hurry, or looking to spend only a little. Bocca di Lupo is almost peerless; many say it’s better than it’s ever been.
12 Archer Street, W1D 7BB, boccadilupo.com
Canteen
The Standard’s restaurant critic David Ellis boldly said last year that the pasta at Canteen might be the best in town. It’s the work of chefs Jessica Filbey and Harry Hills, both ex-River Cafe. Thankfully they didn’t take the prices with them. The place is decidedly nonchalant, though soothing: a place to eat ribbons of pasta folded among morels, girolles, asparagus; soft scallops on borlotti beans; well executed pizza. The place is from the trio behind the Pelican, the Hero, the Bull and the Fat Badger. It seems they can do no wrong.
310 Portobello Road, W10 5TA, @canteen.310
Luca
Not cheap, Luca. A cup of parmesan fries? £9. Rigatoni of sausage, tomatoes and anchovy? £26. Chickpeas with lemon farinata, porcini, Swiss chard and a garlic emulsion? £38. Still, the cooking is outstanding, the service precise and warm, and the restaurant has a Michelin star to its name. Few Italian fixtures attain one — mostly because Michelin inspectors don’t really understand Italian food — and so it is notable. To be clear: those with fat wallets should book Luca now. Those with modest ones might try the lunch express set menu, which brings two courses for £32.
88 St John Street, EC1M 4EH, luca.restaurant
Trullo
Trullo is celebrating its 15th birthday this year. It opened just two years after Bocca di Lupo and the comparisons don’t end there — both are in tribute to Italian cuisine, curling crab through tagliarini and resting juicy pork chops on braised beans. Trullo might be a little more irreverent, arguably a little less traditional. This is not a disservice; it is a resource of magnitude. Founder and chef Tim Siadatan, a product of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, has always sought to offer a “British take on Italian cooking” and that’s what he brings. The result is one of London’s finest restaurants.
300-302 St Paul's Road, N1 2LH, trullorestaurant.com
Murano
Hardly anyone in Britain can make risotto. People think they can, but they can’t. Instagram is awash with bad risotto and because hardly anyone knows anything about it, the comments always flood in, which makes the whole thing worse. “Yum!” they say. “Omg goals.” It’s really depressing. There’s such a lack of food knowledge in Britain still. Angela Hartnett’s risotto is probably the best in London. Especially the tomato one when it’s on. Everything else at Murano is wonderful too, whether artichoke tagliatelle or cod with salsify and tarragon, but make sure you get a plate of risotto. It should be on the national curriculum.
20 Queen Street, W1J 5PP, muranolondon.com
Artusi
Peckham restaurant Artusi is wonderfully good value, a true neighbourhood space with a loyal local fan base. It does Italian simplicity with panache, doing away with needless flair and letting ingredients shine. The menu is concise, mindful and efficient: there might be ravioli with spinach and cime di rapa, artichoke with tomatoes and ricotta, and featherblade steak with confit garlic and mashed potato. Place your trust, too, in sister restaurant Marcella, which isn’t so far away in Deptford.
161 Bellenden Road, SE15 4DH, artusi.co.uk
Polentina
In deep East London is Polentina, a small, charming and eccentric restaurant in the corner of an upmarket clothes factory, cordoned off by a glass wall. The place is the work of Canadian photographer and cook Sophia Massarella, who started it as a canteen for workers before word of her talents spread and guests arrived in search of stewed bobby beans with ricotta and fennel sausage with fried polenta. The food dotes on Massarella’s Italian and Austrian heritage and focuses on hyper locality. She pores through old recipe books and draws on childhood memories to capture the cooking of individual towns and cities, with a Romanesque — that is to say, offal-heavy — approach.
1, Bowood House, Empson Street, E3 3LT, polentina.com
Manteca
What’s more impressive, Manteca, or David Carter’s arms? It’s a tricky one, but Manteca — which Carter founded — edges it, if only for the brown crab cacio e pepe. Elsewhere on the menu are such delights as fettuccine with hogget ragu, roast lemon sole and John Dory and, relatively newly, lumache alla vodka. Lumache is a pasta shape that resembles little baskets, or bow-shaped shells – cute, though not really right for a fairly thin tomato sauce. No matter, Manteca is excellent regardless. It even has its own salumeria. Walking by in the morning to see chefs rolling out pasta never gets boring.
49-51 Curtain Road, EC2A 3PT, mantecarestaurant.co.uk
Ida
Ida is a neighbourhood restaurant with a beautiful dining room, affordable food and the friendliest service for miles around. It was opened by husband and wife team Avi and Simonetta Winkhert in 2007 and serves traditional Italian dishes. The sort you would hope to cook after buying that farmhouse in Tuscany. Everything is wonderful, but it would be wholly remiss of you not to order a bowl of pasta or gnocchi, made each morning by artful chefs. Ida specialises in highly unfussy cooking and is named after Avi’s mother, who hailed from Cupramontana, a dainty commune in the region of Marche known for its rich ragus as it is for its sprightly seafood dishes.
167 Fifth Avenue, W10 4DT, idarestaurant.co.uk
Legare
Legare is the sort of restaurant those in the know share reluctantly. Securing a table of a weekend isn’t easy, such is its reputation, and no wonder – in the softly glowing dining room are generously portioned plates of pasta, antipasti such as Dorset clams with saffron, ox heart and green beans, whipped cod’s roe and fried Ragstone with Cornish leaves. The cannoli make for a happy finish. What’s more, it would be straightforward to dine quite lavishly for little more than £50 a head.
31 Shad Thames, SE1, legarelondon.com
